Polish president backs Ukraine’s bid to join EU
RUSSIA pressed its offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region yesterday as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the outcome of the gruelling conflict would determine whether his country’s fate lay with the West or under Moscow’s domination.
After declaring its full control of a sprawling steel plant that was the last defensive hold-out in the port city of Mariupol, the Russian military launched has fresh artillery and missile attacks in Ukraine’s industrial heartland, seeking to expand the territory Moscow-backed separatists have held since 2014.
In a Saturday night video address to the nation, Mr Zelensky described the situation in the Donbas as “really hard” but “the fact that we are able to say this on the 87th day of a full-scale war against Russia is good news”.
The president added: “Every day that our defenders take away from these offensive plans of Russia, disrupting them, is a concrete contribution to the approach of the main day. The desired day that we are all looking forward to and fighting for: Victory Day.”
Mr Zelensky’s remarks came as Poland’s president prepared to meet with him to support Ukraine’s goal of becoming a candidate for European Union membership, an issue set to be decided at an EU summit in late June.
As the West rallies behind Ukraine, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda made an unannounced visit to Kyiv and yesterday became the first foreign leader to address the Ukrainian parliament in person since the start of the war.
Poland, which has welcomed millions of Ukrainian refugees since Russia invaded its neighbour, has become a major gateway for Western humanitarian aid and weapons going into Ukraine.
The government in Warsaw is also a strong supporter of Ukraine’s desire to join the European Union.
Mr Zelensky stressed on Saturday that the EU should consider Ukraine’s desire to join the 27-nation bloc as soon as possible, within the context of Russia’s invasion.
“I want to emphasise that our European integration path is not just about politics,” Mr Zelensky said. “It’s about quality of life, and about the fact that Ukrainians perceive the values of life in the same way as the vast majority of Europeans.”
Russia appears to have made slow, grinding moves forward in the Donbas in recent days. It intensified efforts to capture Sievierodonetsk, the main city under Ukrainian control in Luhansk province, which together with Donetsk province makes up the Donbas. Luhansk governor Serhii Haidai said the only functioning hospital in the city had just three doctors and enough supplies for 10 days.
In a general staff morning report, Russia also said that it was preparing to resume its offensive toward Sloviansk, a city in Donetsk province that is critical to Russia’s objective of capturing all of eastern Ukraine and saw fierce fighting last month after Moscow’s troops backed off from Kyiv. Mr Zelensky has emphasised that the Donbas remains part of Ukraine and his forces were fighting to liberate it.
With Russia claiming to have taken nearly 2,500 Ukrainian fighters from the besieged Mariupol steel plant prisoner, concerns grew about their fate and that of the city’s remaining residents. Mariupol is now in ruins, with more than 20,000 residents feared dead.